Years Lost, Years Gained
by Jsel
Summary: a twist of fate happens and Daniel's the one it happens to (again)
1. Default Chapter

Spoilers: Gamekeeper  
Notes: I've become interested with the idea of SG-1 as children, so there might be more on this idea coming later. (run away, run away) :) This is the first story I've really chaptered, so tell me how it works out.  
  
  
years lost, Years Gained  
  
  
  
SG-1 stepped through the Stargate and immediatly put themsleves on guard. They were surrounded by a group of natives.  
  
"At least we have a welcoming commity." Jack quipped. "Daniel..." THe archeologist stepped forward.  
  
"Hello, We're peacefull explorers from Earth." He waited and when he got no response, he started in on another language, but was interrupted.  
  
"You came through the circle." One of the natives asked. He appeared to be the leader.  
  
"Yes." said Daniel, "But we mean you no harm. Like I said...We're peacefull explorers." The leader looked closely at him.  
  
"I'm Danok." he said at last and gestured for them to follow. Daniel looked back at Jack and started forward, under a smaller ring. The rest of the team followed. As he went under the ring, peering at the inscriptions, it flared. If they had been farther from it, down where Danok was standing, it would have seemed like when the moon eclipsed the sun. Startled, Daniel stumbled out to the other side of the ring. Immediatly there was a rustle of surprise through the crowd, like wind. Jack stepped forward.  
  
"And what was that?" He asked. Danok advanced quickly.  
  
"You are all welcome." he said to them. "Do not worry, it is not harmfull." he said to Daniel, who nodded back.   
  
They arrived at the village some time later and were immediatly beseiged by the rest of the village. The children ran around Daniel and Sam, using them as a "base" for tag or hiding places for hide and seek. Sam grinned at Daniel as a little girl hid behind her and a boy grabbed hold of Daniel declaring that he was safe. Jack smiled slightly and watched while listening to Danok. Danok left and Jack made his way to them, being careful not to step on any little hands or feet.  
  
"I can see whose popular here." he remarked. "We're invited to a feast tonight, so you guys better get ready. We'll set up camp right outside town." The rest nodded and left to set up and Jack grinned down at a little boy who had latched on to him, freed himself, and followed.  
  
***  
  
Jack frowned. The feast was great. The food was good, the drink was good, the natives were... friendly and Daniel was in heaven listening to their myths and folk tales. And still Jack frowned.   
  
The natives were what they seemed, friendly and they still treated the team with a healthy amount of caution, especially Teal'c. They seemed trusting enough to let their children mingle with them. This trust seemed to be helped along by the light display earlier from the smaller ring that Daniel had set off.   
  
Their reaction to Daniel was what really irked Jack. They listened to him and answered his questions, but they seemed to treat him like he was a child, listening like an adult would listen to a 6 year old describing a favorite toy. Daniel didn't seem to notice, or, if he did, didn't say anything and didn't appear to care. This was why Jack frowned. Where they blind? Couldn't they see that Daniel was as old as, or older than many of the adults here?  
  
Jack sighed and stood up. It was getting late and they were heading out tomorrow so they had a long trek back to the 'gate ahead of them.  
  
"Let's go guys." Sam and Teal'c also stod up and Daniel followed them reluctantly.  
  
"Just a little longer?" he asked. Jack rolled his eyes and wondered how Daniel managed to sound like a 10 year old asking to stay up just a little longer to watch some more TV.  
  
"Now Daniel." They said goodnight and made their way back to the camp.  
  
"I'll take first watch." Jack said. "Teal'c, second, Carter, third, Daniel, fourth, okay?" They all nodded and dissapeared into tents as Jack settled down for his watch.  
  
  
***  
  
Jack sighed and glanced down at his watch. His watch was about to end. It had been uneventfull, as he suspected. He didn't think that the natives would come charging in armed. He was just there to make sure that no lions, tigers and/or bears (oh my!) came running in uninvited.  
  
There was a rustle behind him an he whirled around. Quickly he grabbed his flashlight and shone it where he had heard the noise. It illuminated a small child who looked at him, scared. One look at Jack's gun and the boy backed up a few steps before turning and running.  
  
"Hey!" Jack called, knowing that he would probably wake up Teal'c and Carter. "Get back here." He hadn't recognized the child from the village and he didn't know where he was from or where he was going. The boy ran into Carter, who had just exited her tent in alarm. She held the wriggling form so he couldn't get away. Jack walked towards her and the child then tryed to hide behind her. She looked at him in amusment.  
  
"Your gun." she pointed out and Jack gave his gun to Teal'c in exasperation.  
  
"Where's Daniel?" he asked. The boy peeked out from behind Sam.  
  
"I'm Daniel." he said in a small voice. "But people call me Danny." They all looked at him in surprise and disbelief. A word filtered into Jack's brain, but it wasn't a word suitable to be uttered around small children.  
  
Now that he was still, Jack could get a good look at him. He was small and looked about 6 years old with the same long hair as before. He was also barefoot and swimming in obviously overlarge clothes that had been Daniel's. With one hand he held Daniel's large glasses to his face while with the other he tried to keep his pants up. Not that it mattered, his shirt came down below his knees. Despite his hight in later years, Daniel had been small as a child.   
  
"You're Daniel?" Jack asked. "Daniel Jackson?" The boy nodded.  
  
"Danny." he corrected. Jack shot Sam a look and went to try to restart the fire that he had kept as glowing embers. Sam sat down on the ground and held Danny in her lap.  
  
"Alright Danny," Jack said sitting down beside them, "I'm Jack. How old are you?"  
  
"six."  
  
"Okay, good. What's the last thing you remember?" Danny frowned.  
  
"I was in the forest. And I climbed up a tree. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up I was here. Wherever here is..." Something in the back of Sam's head stirred, something Daniel had told her briefly, about how old he was when...  
  
"Who are your parents?" she asked on impulse.  
  
"My _parents_," he said, stressing the word, "Are dead. I live with Mr. Meyers." Jack ans Sam both twitched in surprise (in Jack's case) and dread (in Sam's case.) Sam could remember that mission where they were stuck in the VR world where Daniel had been forced to witness his parents deaths over and over again... And now he was six, which was only about a year after the event happened.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Teal'c prowling around the fringes of the camp while they dealt with Danny. THe little boy in her lap yawned.  
  
"Why don't you go back to sleep," Jack suggested, "And we'll go home in the morning."  
  
"Okay" Danny yawned. "Are we camping?"  
  
"Yeah," Sam said, "Something like that."  
  
Jack watched them go, worried.  
  
***  
  
"What did you do to him?" JAck demanded the next morning as he strode across the clearing. A mother appeared from one of the houses and came towards them, carrying a bundle of clothes Danny's size. That's when Jack realized that they had known that this was going to happen. And that explained their attitude towards Daniel the night before. DAnny followed the Woman into a her house and Jack indicated that Sam should go with them.   
  
"We did nothing to him." Danok said. "He was chosen by the Great Ring." Jack looked at him in incomprehension for a minute.  
  
"Oh that thing, the one that flared. The large ring of metal that can't think. How did it _choose_ him if it can't think!" Danok just shrugged.  
  
"He was chosen." he insisted.  
  
"fine, just dandy. How do you _un_choose him."  
  
"The process is irreversible. You cannot cange him back, it is impossible."  
  
"_Nothing_ is impossible." Jack said flatly. SG-1 should know too, they'd done what was considered impossible many times, way to many for Jack's liking, but they'd done it.  
  
"There is only one way for him to change back." Danok continued.  
  
"And?" Jack prompted.  
  
"If he chooses to change back." Jack started.  
  
"You mean Daniel's in there?" Danok nodded.  
  
"He is, just in the subconsciousness. The boy isn't aware the choice is being made, but it is happening. You should know by the next full moon on your planet."  
  
"That's..." Jack groaned as he went through the moon cycles in his mind. "That's one month away, we just had one." Silence, then, "How often do they change back?" Danok regarded him for a minute and turned to look back at Danny, who was running back to them, followed closely by Sam.  
  
"Almost never."  
  
***  
  
"Alright Campers, we're moving out." Jack said, in a determinedly cheerfull voice. They headed out for the long walk back to the Stargate. Jack deliberatly set an almost painfully slow pace so that Danny would feel like he had walked some and then Teal'c Swung the boy up to his shoulders for the rest of the trek. They arrived and Sam started dialing the DHD. Teal'c set Danny down and he jumped back behind Jack when the Stargate activated with its usual fireworks. Jack motioned Sam and Teal'c to go through and then turned to kneel and look Danny in the eye.  
  
"Don't worry. This is our way home. You'll be fine, just hold onto my hand, okay?" his eyes wide, Danny nodded and JAck stood up. He grabbed the small hand and lead the way up the ramp. Jack looked down at the small boy with a determined look on his face.  
  
"Ready?" A nod. "Let's go then."  
  
They stepped through.  
  
  
  



	2. chapter 2

content warning: implied child abuse, nothing graphic.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Jack and Danny stepped through the shimmering Stargate in the SGC. Jack caught his balance on reflex and only the fact that he had a death grip on Jacks hand kept Danny on his feet. Jack didn't let go and led the way to where Sam and Teal'c were standing. Hammond was standing in his customary place at the bottom of the ramp.  
  
"Colonel."  
  
"General." Jack held his breath, knowing what was coming.  
  
"WHere's Dr. Jackson." Jack looked down at Danny, who was trying to hide behind Sam and keep a hold of Jack's hand at the same time. Jack gently brough him forward. "Please met Daniel Jackson, aged 6."  
  
"Danny." The boy corrected automatically.  
  
"Danny, this is Mr. Hammond." Hammond was giving JAck one of his exasperated looks that Jack suspected he reserved just for Sg-1.  
  
"Infirmary, debreifing in 1 hour." he said shortly, then gave Danny a brief, slight smile and turned and walked away. The team made their way to the infirmary where they had to explain to Dr. frasier what had happened.  
  
  
  
"He's a healthy, normal, 6 year old child." Janet said in the debriefing. Danny had been left with one of the nurses who had been delighted at the chance to play with the boy. "And if what Danok told the Colonel was true, then I think all we can do is wait." General Hammond nodded in understanding.  
  
"In the mean time," he said, "I'd like to keep the boy here at all times." Jack immediatly started protest and Sam and even Teal'c joined him.  
  
"you can't" Jack said. "He's just a boy. He only remembers falling asleep in a tree and waking up with us."  
  
"Besides," Sam continued, "He's six, that means he's in school right now. How are we going to explain _that_ to a child who, if i remember what Daniel told me correctly, loves school. He's probably expecting us to wake him up tomorrow and tell him to get ready to get on the bus. It's probably a ritual and with children, you can' break paterns with them at the snap of a finger."  
  
"It is most unwise." Teal'c took up the argument. "The child's needs would not be met by keeping him here. He should be outside, with others." Everyone looked at him in surprise. THey almost expected him to add, "The child needs a life General Hammond." Jack jumped in again.  
  
"He can stay with me. He'll be fine, I swear." Hammond was silent for a moment before nodding.  
  
"Alright then," he said, "But I reserve the right to decide to keep him here, understood." A collective sigh ran around the room. Jack nodded.  
  
"Just give me time to get the house ready." He ment time to Daniel-proof it.  
  
"I can take him out to get some clothes that fit him." Sam said with a smile. The clothes he was wearing were a loan from Cassie and weren't any better that the ones he had been wearing.  
  
"Very well," Hammond said, "Dismissed."  
  
  
  
Jack sat in his car, turned it off and slowly got out, what-ifing in a way he hadn't since he was a teenager. What if Danny didn't like him? What if he grew so fond of the boy that he couldn't think of him as Daniel any more? And worst of all, what if he found that he couldn't be a father after Charlie?  
  
He dismissed these thoughts as he entered and went abou the task of child proofing the house. The chemicals under the sink went out in the garage, the extra room had a once over and extra boxes were put in the closet. He found one of those child locks for cabinets and put one on the cabinet under the sink. Matches dissapeared and valubles went into his bedroom. Then the most important. He went into his room and got out his gun. Briefly, he considered putting it high out of the way then dismissed the idea. He thought it had been high enough with Charlie and with a kid like Danny, it would never be high enough. The doorbell rang and he smiled at the most obvious answer.  
  
He got up to answer the door, being carefull to keep the gun behind his back, out of sight. He opened the door and looked down into curious blue eyes.  
  
"Am I really going to stay with you?" Danny asked.  
  
"Yep, why don't you take that bag to the kitchen while I talk to Sam?" Danny ran off and JAck dragged Sam back to her car and handed her his gun.  
  
"Keep it for me for a while, okay?" Sam gave him a startled look and took the gun.  
  
"Sure." she said and stuck it in her glove compartment to take away later. Jack breathed easier.  
  
Jack ran back to the house while Sam went around to the trunk to get another bag.  
  
"He's stayin gin the guest room." He called back to her. He saw her nod before going into the kitchen. Danny was there, sitting at the table. He was wearing clothes that actually fit now. Jack quickly got him a sandwich and set it in front of him. Danny seemed to have relaxed more around him. He heard Sam rummaging around the spare room.   
"Ever think about cutting your hair?" he asked, ruffling the long hair. He was expecting what he usually got, A slight smile, an "I don't think so." But something else happened instead.   
  
Danny jerked back and away from him.  
  
"No!" he said vehemetly. "Mr. Meyers did it once-" He cut off quickly and snapped his mouth shut, as if he was n the brink of telling something he shouldn't. Jack felt Sam stop in the doorway and he ignored her for the time being.  
  
Something about the way Danny was acting stirred up a long forgotten memory that Jack was striving to bring back. Then he had it. In fourth grade, there had been a boy, a quiet child who Jack had always felt a remote sympathy for. His father had come to school one day and the boy had cringed away from him, like Danny was doing now with Jack.  
  
Suddenly, rage overcame Jack. Who would do that to a little kid who'd just seen his parents crushed? Quickly he swallowed his anger and knelt down by the chair, so he was lower than Danny.  
  
"What did he do Danny?" he asked gently. Danny gazed at him wide-eyed and shook his head. "Come on, I wont hurt you."  
  
"He cut my hair." Danny whispered. Jack could barely hear him.  
  
"What else?" Jack asked. Come on, Danny, he asked silently, tell me, what did he do? Why did you fall asleep in that tree? WHat else did he do to you, tell me. Danny just shook his head. Jack sighed, stood up and reached a hand to lay on his head. Danny flinched away. He was going to have to be carefull, Jack realised, as he looked up at Sam and they shared a very worried glance.  
  
  
  
Jack woke up that night to someone yelling and he tooka moment before remembering the Very Special Guest that was staying with him. Quickly, he got up and went to the guest room. Danny was struggling with the blankets and saying- something. Jack couldn't understand what because it obviously wasn't English.  
  
He went over and shook Danny awake gently. He came awake with a start and rolled up away form Jack.  
  
"Hey," he said gently, "Calm down. No one's gonna hurt you, I promise." Danny relaxed a bit. "What's wrong?" Jack asked.  
  
"I- I had a dream." Danny said, he sounded very young and very lost. "About my parents." Ahh, no Jack understood.  
  
"How long ago?" He asked and held his breath. He didn't know if Danny trusted him enough to tell him.  
  
"About a year." Okay, now he really understood. It was about a year since the Gamekeeper and Jack knew for a fact that Daniel still had nightmares about it. If the kid was experiencing the real thing...  
  
"Okay, don't worry, just go back to sleep." Jack tucked him in again and started rubbing his back, a trick he had learned from Charlie after he had had a bad dream. After a while Jack heard a whimper and saw that Danny was still awake.   
  
He went to the cluttered closet and pawed through the boxes until he found his quarry. It was a large stuffed lion that had been Charlies. He dusted it off and brought it back to the bed. It was so huge, it was almost half the size of Danny. He sat up, curious.  
  
"This lion," JAck said, handing it to Danny, "Is named Roarer. Do you know why?" Danny looked at him as if he was particularly slow.  
  
"Because lions roar." He said simply. Jack wondered if children all had some inate knowledge about nameing stuffed animals. 'that's the same reason Charlie gave me.'  
  
"Right. Now this lion is a prime example of why they call lions the king of the jungle. He used to be my son's. He made sure that the room was safe through the night. No moster has ever survived in this house because of Roarer. Why don't you keep him for a while. I think that He's been lonely." Danny gazed wide eyed at the huge stuffed animal.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really."  
  
Danny snuggled down, clutching the lion under the covers. His eyes closed heavily and Jack tiptoed out, smiling.  
  
Silence followed him.  
  



	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Just saw crystal Skull and thought I heard that Daniel was 8 when his parents died. Oh well. Now he was 5 because I can wright for 6 year olds better (thanks to my little brother. How do you think Roarer came about?)  
  
  
  
After that first night the nightmares appeared to taper off- at least, the screaming did. The days settled into a sort of routine. School went surprisingly well for him and after school, Jack would normally take Danny down to the base. THere had been a slight problem with gettin ghim past the guards, but not a big one since everybody liked him. He had finally gotten over his awe at the size of Teal'c and managed to pester him into playing hide and seek around the base. Teal'c had surprised everybody by agreeing. The bigger surprise came when General Hammond had hid the boy under his desk and then told of Teal'c for even _suggesting_ that he would hide a six year when he had _Ver Important Work_ to do.  
  
Danny looked at Jack as a father and Sam as a mother. This had been a source of amusement for Janet Teal'c and Hammond because that would mean that they were married. JAck and Sam just ignored them the best they could.  
  
The days went by and one night Jack suddenly realized with shock that it was 1 day till the next full moon. He stopped drying the dished from dinner and stood in the doorway, watching Danny draw in the other room. He froze and quickly went to kneel behind Danny.  
  
"What are you drawing?" he asked, deceptively calm.  
  
"Just some pictures I thought of." Danny said, showing him the piece of paper. Jack's stomach dropped out from under him. Danny had drawn the gate adresses for Abydos and Earth.  
  
"Look, Danny, Daniel," Danny looked up at that. THe use of his full name always ment that he was in trouble or that something was wrong.  
"HOw many of these glyphs do you know?"  
  
"Glyphs?" Jack sighed.  
  
"THese pictures. Let's just pretend for a moment that they're called Glyphs, okay? How many can you think of? Can you draw them for me?" He could and he did. He knew most of them, including some adresses, Abydos, Earth, Chulak, the other Earth gate and some others that JAck recognized form their missions.  
  
"Danny?" Jack said, "These are very good, but You can't show them or draw them for anyone but me or Sam or Teal'c or Mr. HAmmond or Janet, okay?"  
  
"Okay," he said slowly. Jack could tell thet he didn't understand why.  
  
"Daniel," he said firmly, "I need you to do this for me, okay?"  
  
"Sure." he said. Of course he'd do it if Jack needed him to.  
  
"Thanks." Jack said with relief and went to finish the dishes.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Right after Danny went to school, Jack drove to the SGC to report to Hammond. During breakfast, he had asked some cryptic questions and found that Danny knew more than the six year old should about the planets they ahd been to and the Stargate.  
  
"He knows most of the glyphs." Jack said to Hammond. "He knows quite a few adresses, he knows about Shau'ri- nothing specific, just that he's lost someone besides his parents- it's nothing that would conflict with his life as a six year old, but it's there."  
  
"Tomorrow is the next full moon." Janet said. "That might explain it. He might change back tonight."  
  
"Do you know for sure?" HAmmond asked. Janet was silent, but Sam spoke up.  
  
"From what Danok told the colonel, it's sounds possible."  
  
"I could keep him in the infirmary tonight, just to be sure." Hammond nodded his acceptance.  
  
"All right then."  
  
  
  
  
  
Later that night, DAnny ran down the corridors of the SGC to where Teal'c was.  
  
"Can we play hide and seek?" he asked. Sam intervened.  
  
"I think that Janet wants to see you know." she said. She took him by the hand to make sure he didn't run off to anywhere he wasn't supposed to be and led him to the infirmary. He scowled up at her.  
  
"I know where it is." he said.   
  
"So? If I let you go I might never find you again. It's a big base and you could probably hide anywhere." Danny didn't deny it and they arrived at the infirmary.  
  
"I just want you to sleep here for tonight, to make sure you're healthy. WHy don't you change into this for now." Janet said and handed him one of those hospital robes that trailed behind him when he had it on.  
  
"Come on." Sam said, liftin ghim to the bed. "It's bed time."  
  
"What about Roarer?" Danny asked. A soft, stuffed missile came from the door and landed besides Danny.  
  
"He wouldn't hear of you sleeping alone." Jack said from the door. "Don't worry, Janet will be here and so will I, so go to sleep."  
Danny settled down, secure in the knowledge that the lion would be besides him as would the one person he had grown to trust in his young mind more than anyone. Sam tiptoed out and silence descended.  
  
  
  
  
  
JAck woke up in the stiff chair he had unwisely fallen asleep in, looked down at the bed beside him and yelped. Danny wasn't in it, like he had expected. Instead, a full grown Daniel Jackson was there, looking surprisingly pale.  
  
"Sir?" Sam queried from the door. Janet was right behind her. Jack just sat speechless and gestured to the bed. THey both came over and Teal'c appeared from no where.   
  
Daniel stirred and his eyes opened slowly.  
  
"Danny?"  
  
"Jaaack!" Daniel groaned, complainig about the use of his name.  
  
"Sorry, Daniel?" Daniel groaned again and put a hand to his head.  
  
"Where am I?" he asked. Nobody answered him because he already knew. Janet took over.  
  
"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked.  
  
"Stepping out on Px322, Danok the natives..." He trailed off and put a hand to his head. "Headache. Big headache." he groaned again. "What happened?"   
  
"That," Jack said "Is a very long story."  
  
  
  
  



	4. epilogue

Jack sat next to Daniel in the semi low light of the infirmary. Teal'c and Sam had gone to report to Hammond and Janet had gone to check her other patients.  
  
"so, I was a child." Daniel asked again.  
  
"Yeah, weird isn't it?" Jack quipped.  
  
"And I chose to change." Daniel said, more softly. He sudden;y looked at Jack. "How old was I?"  
  
"Six." Jack said, watching Daniel carefully. He paled considerably.  
  
"S-six." He said, trying to regain his balance. Jack just sat silent for a while before he dropped the bomb.  
  
"Who was Mr. Meyers, Daniel?" He asked. This could go badly, very badly. In his mind Jack counted the various ways it could go badly before scowling at himself for overreacting.  
  
"One of my foster parents."  
  
"Right, I knew that. What did he do that made you so untrusting?" Stop evading, please stop evading. Daniel sighed.  
  
"He- I mean, he was-"   
  
"Allright, never mind, I get the idea." Jack said quickly, alarmed at the shade of grey he had become. "What happened to him?" Daniel looked down at his fingers.  
  
"They found out, eventually, when one day I came to school so bruised it couldn't possibly have happened falling from a tree or from a bike. Then that night he got really drunk and-" he stopped, skipped it and went on. "They stopped him and took me away. That was the longest I'd stayed anywhere after my parents died. I don't know what happened to him after that. They just told me it had been dealt with."  
  
"I bet." Jack growled. Daniel looked at him in surprise.  
  
"I always had this dream, during that year, that I lived with these people, well a man at least. And they were really nice and-" he stopped suddenly. "And he was you!"  
  
"really?" Jack asked.  
  
"i guess I did experience my jaunt back to childhood." he said laughing. Jack laughed with him and the gloomy mood dissipated. They were quiet for a while.  
  
"Jack?" Daniel asked finally.  
  
"Yeah Daniel?" Daniel fished under the covers and a large stuffed lion made his appearance.  
  
"What's this?" 


End file.
